Flower Beds in the Dresden Gardens [recto]; Nude (Portrait of Dodo) [verso]

c. 1910

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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Flower Beds in the Dresden Gardens [recto]; Nude (Portrait of Dodo) [verso]

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Flower Beds in the Dresden Gardens [recto]; Nude (Portrait of Dodo) [verso]

c. 1910

Physical Qualities Oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 37 1/4 in. (77.5 x 94.6 cm.)

Credit Line Gift of Curt Valentin Gallery, Inc.

Object Number 1953.33

Here, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner combined vivid colors and undulating forms to transform the Grand Garden in Dresden, Germany, into a wild and lively landscape. The urban park was designed in the 17th century and featured the straight avenues and symmetrically arranged lawns popular in France at the time. However, Kirchner drew inspiration for this painting from areas of the park that were designed in the English style with labyrinthine paths, little forests, and meadows. He admired artists like Henri Matisse (1869–1954), whose pioneering use of bold color combinations in the early 20th century similarly embodied a spirit of freedom.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1953; Curt Valentin Gallery; Buchholz Gallery, New York (Curt Valentin); Kirchner Estate (after artist's death in 1938); Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

The Baltimore Museum of Art, "4000 Years of Modern Art," Nov. 27, 1956-Jan. 13, 1957, no. 124.

Gertrude Rosenthal, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists," Oct. 22-Dec. 8, 1968, no. 115.
Museo d'Arte Moderna, Lugano, "Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Retrospective," Mar. 12-July 2, 2000.

Das Städel, Stäelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt, "Naked! Female Visions, Painters' Intentions, The Rise of Modernism," September 25, 2003-February 1, 2004.

Neue Gallery, "The Birth of Expressionism: Brucke in Dresden and Berlin," February 26-June 29, 2009.

Katy Rothkopf, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Expressions of Nature," March 10-September 22, 2019.

Jill Lloyd and Janis Staggs, The Neue Galerie, New York, "Ernst Ludwig Kirchner," October 3-January 13, 2020.

Baltimore Museum of Art News, June-Summer 1953, ill. cover.

BMA News, June 1957, ill. p. 3.

Donald E. Gordon, "Ernst Ludwig Kirchner," Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968, no. 100, p. 280, ill. verso p. 422.

Lloyd, Jill and Janis Staggs, eds., "Ernst Ludwig Kirchner," New York: Neue Galerie: Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2019.

Rosenthal, Gertrude, ed. From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1968, pp. 138, ill.